Sexual Apartheid is a Product of Political Islam
Let's Rise Against It!

Azar Majedi

11 September in New York displayed to the world the criminal capacity of political Islam. One result of the US and Britain's attack against Afghanistan was that some of the films and documents of the Taliban's crimes, which were gathering dust in the media archives, finally saw the light of day. In a short space of time, the people in the West heard and watched in horror chilling accounts of the brutalities of the Taliban against the people of Afghanistan.
11 September and its aftermath thrust political Islam and Islamic terrorism onto the centre stage of world politics. Notwithstanding the Western governments' attempts to save political Islam and shift the attacks onto the Taliban, Bin Laden and Al Qaida, this incident has generated a range of questions and issues in the minds of people around the world and the region which should be addressed.

In its present form and shape, political Islam, as a powerful force in the mainstream of political conflicts in the Middle East, is a product of the West and in particular the USA. For twenty odd years, the USA and the West created and reared political Islam as a weapon in the Cold War and against the rise of communism and the Left in the region. In 1978 they foisted the Islamic Republic onto the people of Iran in order to head off the "threat" of the Left's victory in the revolution. In the war against the Soviet Union, they let loose first the Mujahedin and then the Taliban on the people of Afghanistan. During this time, against the people's struggle for freedom and secularism, they have defended the religious and Islamic movements in the region, backed the corrupt and dictator Islamic states and supported large and small Sheikhdoms. These creatures are products of the West.

As long as they were tearing apart the people of the region, these monsters had the backing of the West. As long as the victims of their ferocious terrorism were the people of the region, the West kept quiet on their atrocities. No films were being shown then by the media about the Islamists' crimes against the people and women of Afghanistan. No news was being broadcast on the barbarism of the Islamic regime in Iran. There was silence on the stonings. But this terrorism did not remain confined to that region. It paid a home visit to the West too.
On a day like any other, the people of the world received the news of an unprecedented and gruesome carnage. These Islamic murderers turned three airplanes along with hundreds of their crew and passengers into deadly missiles, killing several thousand other unsuspecting people. After this terrorist attack, the world situation changed. By attacking Afghanistan and the Taliban, the USA, apart from asserting its world supremacy, aims to redefine and create a new equilibrium in its relations with political Islam.

It is in this context that in the propaganda campaign to justify the attack against Afghanistan and make it palatable to the general public, fragments of the Taliban's crimes against the people and women of Afghanistan are being exposed. Thus a small fraction of the atrocities that these Islamic forces have committed over the past two decades, atrocities which we as their first-hand victims have tried to bring to the attention of the world, comes to light.
Women are the first victims of political Islam and Islamic terrorist gangs. Sexual apartheid, stoning, compulsory Islamic veil and covering and stripping women of all rights are the fruits of this reactionary and fascistic movement. Political Islam has committed countless crimes both where they are in power, like the Islamic Republic in Iran, the Mujahedin and the Taliban in Afghanistan, in the Sudan and in Saudi Arabia, and where they are in opposition, as in Algeria, Pakistan and Egypt. Terrorising the population is the policy and strategy of this force for seizing power.

The overthrow of the Islamic Republic in Iran will bring this vile movement to its knees. The struggle of the people in Iran for the downfall of the Islamic Republic, which has gained great momentum, holds a significant place in the fight against political Islam in the region. The women's movement in Iran for liberation from sexual apartheid and for free and equal rights plays an important part in the struggle of women in the Middle East for emancipation from the nightmare of political Islam. Building a powerful movement for freedom and secularism against political Islam is the only way to drive this movement back to the margins of society in the Middle East. We must set to the work of building such a movement. Medusa has this critical and urgent task on its agenda.

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Activists of the Campaign for the Defence of Women's Rights in Iran and the Worker-communist Party of Iran in Scandinavia have been waging a long and widescale campaign against the legal and social discrimination that takes place against women and children in Islamic communities thanks to the influence and observance of the ideas of Cultural Relativism. Especially in Sweden and Denmark this campaign has had important impacts on the public opinion. Lively debates have started around the issues raised by this campaign. The discussions have received wide media coverage and public awareness of the plight of women and children in these communities has increased. Even the authorities admit that they are now better informed. The main theme of this issue of Medusa is devoted to this great and lively campaign. In this issue we also carry an interview with RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, on the situation in Afghanistan, the US and Britain's military attack, the future of Afghanistan and the role of RAWA.